The Wannabe Journal for October 2011

The Wannabe’s Journal

For

October 2011

We held our October Meeting last Friday, the 21^st at UD’s River Campus cafeteria which has turned out to be a wonderful setting for our famed group of artists. We continue to grow in numbers at our monthly meetings in part due to the inspirational surroundings of the glassed in room which is sheltered from the outside world by the wooded area behind the big building.

We caught up with the activities of our many members:

Ginger E.

She is working on a book for her sister that portrays the Life of Mary. She has also created a Children’s Book entitled:” The Bear Cave” She created the book as a gift to her grandchildren.

Martha:

She has been deeply involved in PEO (Philanthropic Education Organization) and many of her church’s volunteer activities.

Don P:

He shared his experiences of participating in another writers group that meets regularly at The Greens. Each member of the group can write a story, up to 20 pages in length and each member of the group(all 12 of them) must read the story and offer feedback at their meeting which is held once a month. Don indicates that he has learned a great deal about his individual style as a result of participating in this group. Sounds like it is similar to taking a creative writing class as Sinclair where you write a number of short stories and receive feedback from your classmates. Great exercise.

Bob O’:

Has been reading “A Death in the Family” by James Agee. He also participated in the Family Rosary Event that was recently held at UD’s Arena.

Don H:

Taking a class through the LLI program from the famous Dayton novelist, Martha Moody, who is teaching a class: Writing a Fictional Novel? Martha has also been a member of the staff at the Antioch Writers Workshop. Martha has written three novels: Her newest novel is Sometimes Mine. Her second novel is The Office of Desire and her first novel is Best Friends. After pursuing a career in medicine as an internist and had a private practice for a number of years before she took up her writing passion full time.

Don voiced encouragement for those individuals who have not submitted a poem or short story to him for inclusion in the anthology of Christmas Stories that the group is assembling …we are currently assembling and formatting the collection of 12 different stories and poems for the publication, we have recently received a new story since our meeting. I know there are more people who could contribute a story or poem for this project. We are planning on submitting the book…title unknown yet, to Createspace so we can sell the book to interested parties this holiday season.

Where did the expression “The greatest thing since sliced bread” originates from?

How many people keep a personal journal? I know that I do. I keep one as something that I will pass on to one of my grandchildren as a part of our family history. As Don explained to us…Write it down and let it sit. He sounds like a great cook.

Linda:

She has been bitten by the writing bug. Next month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I think she is trying to get a head start on her novel of life in a small mining town in southeastern Ohio. She has conducted a lot of research over the last few years, even entering a mine. She found out a great deal by visiting the small towns in the area where her parents were raised. The use of nicknames was common place.

As a matter of fact I noticed that Ms. Moody recommends on her website that writers should compose two paragraphs a day. The NaNoWriMo has as an objective for those who participate to write a novel in one month. Thus if you take a 50, 000 word novel and divide it by the number of days in November that means you will write about 1700 words a day. If you use Word and format about 250 words a page then you will create 7 pages of text a day.

Jude:

Here are the two remaining sessions in the writing series that are held at the Dayton Public Library (downtown). You can find additional information on the library site or by calling the library.

www.daytonmetrolibrary.org

463-2665

October 24th Main Library

Trudy Krishner

Writing Children's and Young Adult Books

6:30-8:30

November 7th Main Library

NANoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month

5-8

Writing Party

Here is a link on Inner Journals from one of Jude’s friends: Jackee Holder's free e book.

https://jackeeholder.sharefile.com/?cmd=d&id=73fc3939b682494b

She also shared with us that she is signing up to participate in a Writer Seminar in Prague. It is a wonderful city in Eastern Europe where Communism ruled less than 40 years ago. Visiting the Castle on the hill, walking across the St. Charles Bridge and watching the clock tower are just some of the many attractions she will see.

She also discussed Kathy Reich who is a native of Chicago and works as a forensic anthropologist, an academic, and bestselling writer of mystery novels. She appeared in a number of TV episodes of the popular series “Bones” which her career inspired.

We all agreed that the Saturday radio program “This American Life” which Jude has been asked to participate in next year is quite an honor for one of our group….Congrats, Congrats.

I would also recommend listening to the Cincinnati NPR station at 1 PM for the program The Story.

There was a great article in the DDN recently about a new book by Katrina Kittle. The book is entitled: “Reasons to be Happy”. The book is about young adults trying to cope with the pressures of self-esteem. The article was published in the DDN’s on October 12^th in the Friends and Family section of the paper. The title of the article was: “Novel for young girls tackles topic of self esteem”.

Rosie:

Is taking a class in “In Design CS-5” which includes formatting, photo enhancing and creating PDF documents for publishing. The class is an undergraduate course for the semester and very demanding. For those who might not want to leave the couch but still learn how to use Adobe in Design and Photoshop should consider using an on line service at Lynda.com. Here is the link:

http://www.lynda.com

The best part your first month is free and you can cancel out at any time.

She filled us all in on Poetry Corner which is an activity which is sponsored at the Art Gallery at Town and Country Shopping Plaza.

Do you know how to create a HaiKu poem? Maybe we can see a sample of one for the next meeting.

Painting the Essence of France is scheduled for April 20-26^th of 2012 will be held at the breathtaking Domain Du Haut Chateau which is located in southern France. This small town in the heart of Champagne country of France is close to Midi-Pyrénées region where many of the Tour de France races are staged. The small town settings would inspire any type of artist. I visited the area in the summer of 2006 and fell in love with the French countryside charm. You are only 2-3 hours by high speed train from Paris.

There is a Booking Presentation at the Town and Country Fine Arts Center on November 16^th from 6 to 8 PM.

Don Q:

Again talked about the article that appears in Jane Freidman’s newsletter that was referenced in the Wannabe Meeting invitation earlier this month. The article discussed the fact that Blog material and electronic articles can be copyright protected. She referenced a company which our Blog post is using to protect the intellectual property that is posted in our monthly Journal. Here is a link to her article again:

http://janefriedman.com/. The full article is available at

http://janefriedman.com/2011/10/19/idea-theft/

More recently she published an article outlining some software products that can be productive tools for new writers:

1. Caliber (free)
Caliber is free and open source software that converts e-book files from one format into another. It has multiple uses, but it's a popular tool with avid e-book readers and e-book authors/publishers. Caliber can convert to and from a huge number of formats, and it supports all the major e-book formats. Its conversion engine can rescale font sizes and help ensure the output file is readable. It can automatically detect/create book structure, and insert the book metadata at the start of the book.

2. Sigil (free)
Sigil is a "what you see is what you get" free EPUB format editor. Simply put: Sigil makes creating e-books easy for anyone who knows how to use word-processing software. Sigil runs on both Mac and Windows. Tip: You can use Sigil to create your e-book in the most standard format in the publishing industry—EPUB—then use Caliber to convert from EPUB to MOBI (the format that Kindle uses).

3. Scrivener ($45)
this software will cost you, but its well worth the investment if you're a serious and productive writer. For $45, you get a piece of software that: (1) offers advanced organizational and outlining tools (2) gives you complete control over document formatting (3) includes tools for writing nonfiction (APA, MLA, Latex supported) and (4) includes tools for writing scripts. Also, you can print or export your documents in many different formats, including Microsoft Word, Final Draft, EPUB, and Kindle. It's award-winning software, and if you're not sure it's for you, and then goes for the 30-day free trial, no obligation. Right now, it's only for Mac users, though they do have a Windows beta version.

Readings This Month

There were a number of readings on Friday but no one supplied me with a copy of their story so I am unable to share them with you … the audience.

Don P read a new short story entitled: I Dare You.

Don H read a story entitled “The Five Toy Dogs”

Bob O’Connor read a couple an articles which were very humorous. Letters about a Soldier and letter to the Advice Columnists’ seeks an answer to a broken car.

The Wannabe's Journal for September

Claude Monet's giverny garden

Looking at the picture of Monet's Garden in Giverny, France brings back many memories. The sheer beauty and poetry of the flowers and landscape tells me that he could have been a famous writer as well as a painter and artist. The scenes speak volumes.

Our last meeting was held on September 16th. We were able to greet a new member and hear some wonderful new stories and share idea's that will help us all create new masterpieces in the future.

Member Updates:

Don H. Still seeking input for the Christmas Anthology that our group is putting together with the hopes of publishing a book of short stories and poems for the upcoming holiday. We would like to have more stories/poems for the project. Please send your story or poem to following email address:

Don Hart donhart7@att.net

Don P. Announced some exciting news to the group. His self published memoir: The History of Dr. Charles Leroy Peacock and Florence Irene (Bowman) Peacock
as drawn from his papers and the memory of his third son, Donald Jerry Peacock, June, 2011. His book has been accepted into the permanent collection of historical books at Indiana University. He is still awaiting a response from another university that his father attended

My father worked on a Top Secret Project (now declassified) during WW II. The proximity fuse was one of three things that helped win WW II. The others were the Atomic Bomb and Radar. I put the document (250 pages) together from his papers and submitted it to Indiana University where he got all three of his degrees. They put it into their permanent collection at the library and sent me a letter acknowledging this.

Congratulations to Don and his family for this significant tribute.

Martha; has contributed to this months stories with the submission to the Journal her one page essay entitled: "My Life on One Page"

Tom D. A new member this month. He is retired and interested in using his lifelong experiences in teaching to begin a new career that will take advantage of his brain's right side. He loves to read and is currently reading a book by David Brooks entitled : The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love…

Don Q. After arriving late he had to leave early...right in the middle of Don H's reading of his new short story. He was at the meeting long enough to announce that he was still working on getting his Santa's Magic book published this year. He recommended that everyone who owns a Kindle check out the daily specials for e books on the Amazon site. The site offers a new book each day for a reduced price. Prices range from .99 cents to 2.99 for an ebook version of a novel from different genre's.

He also recommended a blog story about self publishing that provides the fundamental involved; http://www.thecreativepenn.com/. Another great blog post that I read recently that made me chuckle is: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/09/a-brave-new-book-world-how-authors-become-entrepreneurs263.html the article is by Jenny Shank who has published the novel "The Ringer". This particular article will bring a smile to your face as your are faced with the prospect of editing and marketing your new novel.

Our Stories this month:

Here is Don's funny story which was inspired by my encounter last March with the famous hacker who held me hostage in Spain for $ 2500. Sorry to report but no one paid the money so I guess I am still there in spirit.

Where Was I?

“I went to Brazil the other day. At least most of my e-mail buddies said I did. I don't remember it at all. I guess the wine was more than I could handle, because they all told me I had sent them the following email:

‘Hope you get this on time. Sorry I didn't inform you about my trip to Brazil for a meeting. I am presently in Rio de Janeiro and am having some unforeseen difficulties here. It's so hard for me to believe this happened to me. I was robbed on my way to the hotel. All my cash, credit cards, as well as my cell-phone were stolen from me.

I need you to help me with a loan of $3,250 dollars to pay my hotel and meal bills as well as to get myself back home. I've been to the embassy and the police but they are not responding to the matter effectively. I will appreciate however much you can afford to send me. I will return the money to you as soon as I return. Let me know if you can be of any help. I don't have a phone where I can be reached right now so just reply to this email. Please let me know immediately.

Phillip’

The oddest part is that I don't even remember flying down there. I must have really had something strong to drink or else I am starting to really show signs of old age. I don't even remember where I stayed or who I saw, so I can't verify that I was there, or what I did, or why I even went there.

I asked my wife about it but she said she hadn't missed me over the weekend. Of course she was tied up with getting ready for her book club meeting on Monday, her church ladies luncheon on Tuesday, and her church board meeting on Wednesday.

I know she carries quite a load with all that she is involved in, but you would think she would notice me sometime over the whole weekend. I will have to quiz her some more on this while I try to figure out what happened. Maybe when I talk to her I will ask if it is a common thing that she pays no attention to me.

It couldn't be that I don't pay any attention to her. I complement her on her hair all the time. I think. I'm sure I do. Almost certainly. I'll have to ask her when she gets home from where ever she is. Whatever time she gets home.

Now what was I going to check on? Oh yes, I remember. The trip to Brazil. I remember going to Germany last year, and to New Orleans four months ago. But Brazil? Good gosh, maybe I ought to see a doctor. What do they call the ones that check your brain. It will come to me later. I hope. Well, I can always Google it. Well, I have some work to do on the computer as well as some emails to send out. I had better get them done.”

He headed to the computer room, got comfortable, and turned it on, prepared to get busy for the morning. After staring at the blue screen for three minutes and wondering why it was taking so long to boot up he tried shutting it down to try to boot up again. The shut down procedure apparently was also not working along with the boot up.

"What am I doing wrong on this. This thing has always worked in the past with no difficulty at all. Maybe if I just unplug it and let it rest for a couple of hours. Then it will do a self search to try to determine what is wrong. Maybe that will solve the problem."

With that he unplugged the computer and went out to the garage to try to finish some projects that he was trying to get done for birthday presents for his three kids. In the garage he quickly busied himself with the projects and forgot for a couple of hours about the computer problem. Finally he remembered to get back on the computer problem thinking to himself that it should be an easy one to solve.

He plugged in the computer again and pressed the “on” button. The blue screen came up again but it didn't progress past that. No desktop, no folders, nothing. Over the next five minutes his playing with the keys produced absolutely nothing. As he got madder and madder he realized that the computer was totally dead and unresponsive.

"What the Devil is going on here. I have never had this happen before. I'm not sure what to do now."

He got out the phone book and started searching under the heading of "Computer Repair". Then he spotted the listing for "Computer Nerds". Their listing said "All computer problems solved, viruses removed, upgrades performed, results guaranteed".

He immediately dialed them and, after a short discussion of his problem, made an appointment for them to come to his home the next day and see what was going on with the computer.

At 9:30 am sharp the next day a very nerd-ish looking young man showed up and knocked loudly on the front door. He introduced himself as John from "Computer Nerds".

Phillip introduced himself and asked him why he hadn't just rang the doorbell. The response he got was, "I didn't see it." Phillip's first thought was, "It was right there beside the door and it's lighted.", but he didn't say anything more, he just invited John to come in and then led him back to the computer room.

John quickly demonstrated his ability by plugging a portable pocket unit into the UBS connection on the computer and using it to start up the computer. At the opening screen Phillip jumped up and yelled, "It lives."

At that John thought to himself, "And he considers me to be a nerd." With the opening screen of the boot up John started some initial checks on the machine, exploring what was available. It quickly became obvious that there was nothing available. It was totally cleaned out. No files of any kind, no folders, nothing.

John turned to Phillip and said, "Everything that was on this computer has been deleted. It is totally empty."

Phillip sat down and put his head in his hands and moaned, "All that work gone. I didn't have the last six months of work backed up. It's unrecoverable."

John proceeded to completely check the computer over, looking for any viruses or worms. Finding none he asked for the backup unit and after installing Firefox as the operating system he copied everything from the backup unit to the computer. He then did a complete new check for viruses and worms. At that point he told Phillip he, at least now, had an operating computer and that that was all he could do. He accepted his check for $100, packed up his stuff and headed out the door. As he exited he reached over and rang the doorbell twice.

Phillip sat down at the computer and searched for his backup list of contacts in the desk drawer. He found that there were only two hundred listed on it and he knew he had had over three hundred before all this started. The next thing he did was to send out the following email to what contacts he did have:

"The last two days have been pure Hell. Yesterday I received more than 50 phone calls and no emails. A hacker had broken into my email account and erased everything. They deleted all 300 plus of my contacts. They also erased all of my folders so I couldn't let everybody know that my system was compromised. They got past my security settings and had all of my stored emails forwarded to another address. The Computer Nerds have fixed my security issues and I have managed to restore a lot of my contact list. Do not send me any money as the previous email requested, unless of course you want to give me a gift for my birthday next month."

With that out of the way Phillip tried to decide what to do next. Finally he decided that now he had better go check on that trip to Australia that he thought he took three weeks ago.

*********************************
Then there was the excellent one page essay that everyone complimented about at our last meeting in late August. Enclosed is Martha's essay entitled "My Life on One Page". Enjoy

The Surprises Keep Coming

As an innocent nineteen year old of the 1950’s, marriage expectations included a loving husband, a few children, a nice home , picnics, vacations and old age together. What a dry, uninteresting view of the future life.

So what did I get?

1. A Fabulous husband

2. Life in seven states

3. Twenty eight moves

4. Two dear and faithful children

5. Six outstanding grandsons

6. One great grandson (at four months “A wild and crazy guy”)

7. A nursing degree

8. A wonderful satisfying job as a hospital nurse for 18 years

9. An interesting an loving extended family that still gathers

10. Trips to all 50 states and 23 countries

11. Thirteen cruises

12. Thirty six Elder hostel’s visits

13. Nineteen terrific retirement years

14. An enriching and enlighten church life

15. Friends and activities that feed my soul

And what about surprises? I present just a few:

1. Moving all over the United States-Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Kentucky, and Arizona

2. Gaining sixty pounds of weight through the years

3. No granddaughters

4. A great grandson who father is our youngest grandson , age fourteen

5. Two children with divorces

6. Double knee replacements

7. Being quite healthy at age 75

8. My husband running six marathons and still doing half marathons at age 70.

9. Being married 56 years to my best friend and still “crazy in love”

Martha Willis 7-20-2011

"My Life on One Page"

NEXT MEETING IS OCT 21ST

Tips for Wannabe Authors

A excellent posting from Jane Friedman, former editor at Writers Digest, who is a well traveled and knowledgeable speaker on Self Publishing. She has a recent article posted at: http://janefriedman.com/2011/08/09/5-things-beginners-need-to-know-about-e-book-publishing/

This Thursday (August 11), I’m teaching a 90-minute on line class for Writer’s Digest on how to publish your e-book. I’ll be discussing the above issues in-depth, and I’ll be available to answer your questions live. Attendees get access to the recording for a full year.

Click here for a full description of the class, plus a link to register. It costs $79.

Recent statistics show that eBook sales are up 1,274 % in the last three years. This is not a trend that the agents and publishers are ignoring any longer.

For those of you that are now starting to discover the power of networking through the social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and your Blog/Website there are now tools which allow you to post updates from your blog sites to Twitter and Facebook automatically. Here is a good site:

http://twitterfeed.com/

Want to sell an eBook on Amazon(kindle), Barnes and Noble(Nook), Ipad and Book for just $ 99. FREE basic eBook conversion from .doc, .docx .txt, .rtf, .html, or .pages (a $50 value!), including 10 graphic images. Book Baby is providing such as service. Here is where you can find more information: http://www.bookbaby.com/services/eBookdistribution

I have mentioned in the past the big publishers sponsor social media sites for writers. Companies like Harpers Collins and Penguin are two such organizations that provides sites such as Authonomy where writers can seek readers feedback from fellow writers and sometimes get offers from the publisher themselves. This link is to a recent article which reviews such sites:

http://www.fromthewriteangle.com/2011/08/publishers-playing-social-media-game.html

For all those people who love to take pictures with your Iphone there now is a way to turn those pictures into a book. Blurb announced a new service to allow you to import those Instagram photos — in a book. For a 20 page book the cost can be as low as $ 10-11.

Here is the link: http://www.blurb.com/apps/instagram

If you are interested in submitting your short story to a competition this fall there is always the Writers Digest Short Story Competition. The deadline for entries is November and you can read the additional guidelines here

http://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/short-story.

Well this should keep you busy until the 26th.

Also...I am looking for five people who would be interested in reading the first 30 pages of my manuscript entitled: Santa's Magic. I am not going to brag and state that the book is done but I feel more comfortable with where is stands after making some changes that were recommended at the AWW in July. Once the book is published I will provide those individuals with a free autographed copy of thee book as compensation for their feedback. The first five people who request a copy of the manuscript will be eligible.

I hope you all have a great week...with this great weather. We look forward to seeing you on the 26th.

The Wannabe's Journal for July of 2011

The Wannabe’s Journal

For

July 22, 2011

A New Home:

Last Friday was a new chapter in the Wannabe’s history. We meet in the cafeteria of UD’ River Campus building at 1700 South Paterson Blvd. The surroundings and vastness of the room made for an enjoyable meeting. We were able to welcome new members to the group and share readings and information about recent classes, seminars and showings that members of the group had participated in.

Who we are:

Don Peacock-written a memoir about his family history which he has self published that includes genealogy charts and family pictures.

Martha Willis- retired nurse who loves to hear stores and writes for her family’s pleasure

Bill Foreman-Poet, who has an Art Gallery and is world on a fictional novel about a Whale in the library,.

Bob O’Connor-better known as “Hutch” was recently the Grand Marshall of the Holiday at Home parade in Centerville. His daughter presented him with a book of pictures of he and his bride that centers on his experiences in that role.

Maurice Boffioux- sometimes called: “Buff” got his start in writing at an early age by winning an essay contest in grammar school.

Judy Whelley-retired in 2005. Her new love is writing and in particular Memoir creation. She is a fellow instructor in the LLI program. She recently spent time in Paris being tutored, along with other writers from around the world on craft of writing stories.

Don Hart- has been teaching in the LLI program for 16 years. His careers span real estate, mortgage banking and air force positions. His area of expertise continues to be Mnemonics.

Rosie Huart-a locally known artist who shows her paintings at Town and Country Fine Art Center. She will be teaching a class in southern France next summer on Painting and more during the week of April 20^th 2012.

Trisha Calvert-our young artists who is having a show of her works at the Centerville Police Station on West Spring Valley on August 5^th. Her open house will show paintings and glass work from the improvised area of India where hunger is a way of life.

She recently submitted her memoir to Antioch College’s Masters Program.

Shulamit is a clinical psychologist who has been recognized for her creative photography. Her photo was recently published in the current issue of Mock Turtle Journal. She also has been selected to show a number of her photos in one of the window store fronts in downtown Dayton.

Readings:

Don P.: Read a limerick. Last meeting Don H. read one that had been published a number of years ago. Ms. Eloy who was present at the last meeting indicated she wanted to create one for this past Friday but she unfortunately was not able to attend. Don filled in quite nicely.

Martha: read a list of memories to commemorate her and her husband’s 56 years of marriage. She has titled the piece as the surprises keep coming. She describes the piece as: “My life on one page.”

Bill Foreman: Read from this work entitled: The Whale in the Library.” He also thanked Rosie and the Art Center in Town and Country for their support for poets and artists in the Dayton area.

Bob O’Connor: The book his daughter created was done using Snapfish. Here is the web site for creating a similar product. http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/photo-books.

It is very similar to Blurb.

Maurice: Read his sons short story entitled: Riverbank. He is investigating the option of self-publishing the story. It was well written.

Judy: Attended a Deep Writing Workshop in Paris last month. The session was taught by Eric Maisel. He spent some time with the students from all parts of the globe explaining the benefits of self publishing. (See my recommended blog site articles below)

She is still writing her memoir. The book that she recommended was “Still Alice” by Lisa Genova. The new novel is about a 50-year-old woman's sudden descent into early onset Alzheimer's disease. The book has won a number of awards and is a NYT best seller.

Don H: “Sheep jumped out of the tree” is a short story he is currently reading. I believe it is a puzzle that the reader is asked to solve.

He is also entering a Contest on Short/Shorts for limericks. They are usually very funny poems which follow a distinct pattern of rhyming.

Rosie: Announced that The Arts Center is hosting a Photography Exhibition called Focal Point, runs from August 13^th through September 4^th. Your pictures need to be matted and framed with the wire hangers. All mediums are eligible. The juror will be Nancy Roach. Entry fee is $ 15 for first entry and $ 10 for each subsequent entry. Limit three entries.

During our discussion of the photo exhibit which is planned for next month we discussed the creative idea of writing a short story by the Wannabe’s one paragraph or sentence at a time. We would call it the “River of Words.” More about this idea will be next month’s journal.

Don Q: Reviewed his attendance at the weeklong Antioch Writers Workshop.

My review: The week long boot camp for writers was a mental “Paris Island”. There was no drill sergeant to wake you early in the morning and get in your face harassment. Our instructors were well known novelists and poets from the writing community.

Nancy Pickard taught Fiction

Jim Daniels taught Poetry

Matthew Goodman taught Non Fiction.

We also had recently published authors, two agents and a book editor and individual who had recently self-published her own book talk about the industry and how/what you should do to write a query letter, find the right agent and get published.

After lunch with the instructors you were off to have a concentrated afternoon reviewing your individual manuscripts in a fiction (there were three groups), poetry or essay/memoir group. I participated in the memoir group. Our leader for the afternoon session was the renowned educator and author Ms. Joyce Dyer.

There is too much for me to put into this month’s issue of this Journal so I will in future months concentrate on one genre at a time.

I will have a handout at the next meeting a listing of the best Memoirs/Personal Essay authors that Ms. Dyer recommended.

I came away with my batteries charged and ready to start writing and editing. That and pulling weeds in the garden has taken up most of my spare time the last two weeks.

Use of Technology: One thing that I learned at the AWW was that you can use your Kindle to help you edit your novels even when you are driving. The Kindle has the feature to convert the word document that was used to create you e-book into an audio file and so you can play the device either in your home while you are looking at the manuscript or over your car radio with the right kind of cable connection or Wi-Fi feature on the devices. Pretty cool…

Writing Competition: Just for Women Fiction Writers. I don’t understand why we men are excluded but we are. Here is the link to the information.

http://blog.authonomy.com/2011/07/competition-get-personal-writing-advice.html

By the way this site is a good place to post a portion of your story or manuscript if you want feedback. Or you can use Writers Digest Community.

I have recently listened in on a number of Webinar’s that are sponsored by Createspace. Recently I listened to presentation on Awards and Review. The on line one hour session was conducted by Brian Jud. I will pass out a listing of resources that you can use to get books reviewed.

Writer’s Digest and Abbott Press have partnered to create another self publishing alternative. Here is the link to learn more: http://www.abbottpress.com/WDPublish.aspx?et_mid=511656&rid=3100634

Recent Blog article on Self Publishing:

http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/ article on “Why I turned down two publishing contracts.” This is a great site for those interested in self publishing news.

Seminars in 2012

Save the Date!!!

The seventh annual

Mad Anthony Writers Conference

April 13-14, 2012

Details coming soon to www.writelikemad.com

Well I think that should be enough for this month.